Category: Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I have a tough time adjusting to change sometimes.

I’ve learned, through the years, to be more flexible. That’s the only way I’ve managed to write books as a parent—because a parent’s life can be totally chaotic. Children get sick, carpools change, children’s activities change, schedules are changed at the drop of a hat.

But change, in general? Still tough for me.

So that would explain the feeling of trepidation I got when I found out two days before the July deadline that my editor for the Memphis series is changing. My previous editor is leaving Penguin and she sent me an email to let me know…and to give me the contact information for the new editor for my series.

Everything got better quickly. I shot an email to the new editor and introduced myself—gave her a brief overview of the kinds of books I write and the different editors I’ve worked with. I told her I would be sending her a new book….the next day. I told her I was always happy to make changes of any kind.

I also stated that I wasn’t great on the phone and preferred emailing, if possible. :) Otherwise, I’m usually so deer-in-the-headlights that I don’t even remember the substance of the conversation afterwards.

The new editor emailed me back and was totally lovely. I calmed down and got back to the new story I was writing.

But it’s tough. I’ve been working with Emily since 2009 to develop and promote the series. She knows the characters and knows when something is out of character for them. She knows the setting and my voice.

My friend, Hart Johnson, had the same editor. She was a little anxious about the changes, too.

Of course, this change does give me the opportunity to hear some new ideas and possibly take the series in a new direction. Once I realized that was the case, I felt a lot better.

Each editor I’ve had has handled business a little differently:

New books, possible new series, contract issues, payment:

For these types of issues, my editors go through my agent. Except for one editor—in a deal that I negotiated myself. For Midnight Ink, when I have a royalty issue, etc., I call them directly.

Planning the series: One of my editors likes an outline/proposal for the next book in the series. Another editor told me whatever I wanted to do was fine.

Communication:

One editor corresponded by mail. I’m not kidding. I was shocked to see a huge package of revisions one day with corrections written in the margins. I made the corrections on my Word file and emailed it back….it would have cost a ton to print and mail back that thing.

Usually I communicate by email. I really prefer it that way because I have a record of the changes and the editor’s thoughts on a project. Sometimes I’ll copy-paste bits of the emails to my online calendar to make sure the items are addressed.

One editor does like communicating by phone some. Unfortunately, I’m usually out running errands or taking my kids somewhere…and flustered. The phone does fluster me. It means I have to email later to make sure that I’m on the same page with the editor.

Revisions and light editing:

Aside from the editor who mailed revisions, the other editors use Word’s Track Changes to send me suggested corrections and changes. I make the changes and email them back.

Artwork and production:

One editor asks me after the fact how I like the cover…but will make changes if there are elements I don’t like (there has only been one time where I asked for a small change—a sign was purposefully misspelled outside a business owned by my character—and I thought the error it didn’t fit the character, whom I perceived as educated.)

The other editor asks for me to be very involved with the cover—actually, more involved than I feel qualified to be. I’d probably prefer the art department and marketing to work their magic, then just have the be ability to comment on a sketch and ask for minor changes.

Sales reports and follow-ups:

Both editors send me figures after the first week and ask whether I’d like weekly reports from that point out. I don’t. :)

Conferences and promo:

One editor, years ago, never mentioned promo of any kind. Never asked if I blogged, never asked if I tweeted or if I went to stores or conferences.

My current (well, and now former) editors invite me to conferences where the publisher has a presence there (like Malice Domestic and Bouchercon) and ask if I’ll be at the dinner the publisher hosts. Unfortunately, these tend to always occur far away when the children have something huge going on….although I did attend one that was very nice.

I think that the key factor in working with editors is flexibility. Business is handled differently, depending on the editor—and change doesn’t have to be bad. It’s just…different. And now I’ll need to be flexible again.

I’m reminding myself, also, that they are adjusting to change, too. My new editor is saddled with me! Now she’s got a writer who hates talking on the phone….and explained that to her. :) What if that’s the primary way she likes communicating with her writers?

What’s your experience working with editors…or dealing with changes? How do you adapt to change (and is it easy for you to?)

Image: Mad African!: (Broken Sword)’s photostream

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

As I’ve mentioned here before, my daughter is obsessed with horses.

She’s taking weekly lessons and is attending horse camp at different weeks over the summer.

It’s a bit like hell’s kitchen here in the South this summer (and in other parts of the States, too.) Hotter than usual in North Carolina. We’d usually have temps in the low 90s for July, but they’ve been around 100F most days.

And my daughter is out in the heat wearing a helmet, boots, and long pants.

She was trotting around one of the riding rings in full riding attire in the sun on the day it reached 105 F. in the shade. I wasn’t convinced it was safe (despite what the camp thought), so I did the typical mommy hovering thing— leaning over the fence and handing her a damp washcloth and a water bottle whenever I could. And then hustling her off into air conditioning at the first available opportunity. This particular heat wave has been known to kill.

Another mom chatted with me as we stood in the shade in our shorts and sleeveless shirts. “How is your daughter handling the heat here this week?” she asked me.

I said, “She loves it. She said she’d stay here at the barn all day every week if she could.”

“She’ll stick with it then, for life. Kids like that always do,” the mom said.

And I just don’t get the horse fixation. I don’t get the flies or the shoveling of horse poop or the large animals who intimidate me a bit. I don’t get the combing, grooming, and washing of the horses or all the tack care. But I’m happy to make these things happen for my daughter, who loves them all.

The other mom’s words struck a chord in me. Yes, just like my daughter’s determination to ride, most writers stick with their writing obsession, too. Similar to my not understanding my daughter’s fascination with horses, most writers’ family and friends don’t get our love of writing. Except, instead of flies and poop and constant grooming, those close to us see isolation, rejection, poor reviews, and low pay.

Some qualities of writers who stick with it:

Stubbornness and/or determination

Love of writing

Thick skin or ability to ignore or easily absorb criticism

Flexibility

Insuppressible creativity…a habit of looking at the world through a writer’s lens

What qualities can you add?

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

If you have time today, I hope you’ll pop over to Emily Wenstrom’s site, Creative Juicer. She’s posting an interview with me there today.

We’re covering challenges to creativity, fitting writing into our day, and what to do when we get stuck.

Thanks!

by James Hutchings

Many writers, whether published or just starting out, are very nervous that someone else will steal their work, whether that be another writer using their ideas in their own stories, or someone making pirated copies of their books.

When I put out a collection of my writing, I specifically gave permission for anyone at all to copy my ideas, or even to cut and paste whole stories. I also contacted the Pirate Party, a worldwide network that wants to lessen copyright, and told them that I was giving anyone permission to put my ebook on file-sharing sites. In this post I hope to show why I went against common wisdom.

Creative Commons

I used a free service called Creative Commons. Creative Commons is useful for people who want to give the general public permission to use their work, but with restrictions. In my case I didn’t mind people using my work for non-profit purposes, such as posting on a blog, but I didn’t want to allow anyone to make money off it. Similarly I wanted anyone who used it to give me credit. I could have just listed these things myself. However I’m not a lawyer, and perhaps I would have worded it wrong so that someone could twist what I said to do more than I meant. Also I could have been unclear about what I was allowing and what I wasn’t allowing. Sure, someone could email me and ask, but the whole purpose of having a written statement is so that people don’t have to ask.

Creative Commons has a series of different licenses, which give permission to do different things. They’re all legally ‘tight’, and they’re all summarized in plain language. So all you have to do is go to their site and answer a series of questions, to get to the license that does what you want. In my case I used the Attribution Non-Commercial License.

Why?

That’s what I did. But why? Common sense would suggest that I’m giving something away for free that I could be selling. However I believe that, in the long run, I’ll be better off. The main reason is that I’ve seen how many people are, like me, trying to get their writing out there. Go to Smashwords and have a look at the latest ebooks. Then refresh the page ten minutes later, and you’ll probably see a whole new lot. The problem that new writers face isn’t that people want to steal your work; it’s getting anyone to show an interest in your work at all. If someone passes on a pirated copy of my work, it might get to someone who’s prepared to buy it – and that someone would probably have never heard of me otherwise. Even if they don’t want to pay for what they read, I might come out with something else in the future, and perhaps paying 99c for it will be easier than hunting it down on a file-sharing site.

Science fiction writer Andrew Burt tells the story of someone who disliked his book, and to get back at him decided to put a copy on a file-sharing site. The effect was that he got a small ‘spike’ in sales immediately afterwards.

I also have some less selfish motives. Many people would assume that the purpose of copyright is to protect authors and creators. Leaving aside the fact that someone else often ends up with the rights (how many Disney shareholders created any of the Disney characters? How many shareholders in Microsoft have ever written a line of code?), that doesn’t seem to have been the intention in the past. The US Constitution says that Congress has the power “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Note that protecting ‘intellectual property’ isn’t mentioned. The authors of the Constitution seemed to see the point as getting ideas out there where people can use them: almost the exact opposite of keeping them ‘safe’ and ‘protected’.

The original idea of copyright seems to have been a sort of deal: you have an idea, and we want you to get it out into the world where it will do some good. To encourage you to do that, we’ll give you a monopoly on its use for a limited time. After that, anybody can use it (it will enter the ‘public domain’).

A lot of people don’t know that copyright used to give a lot less protection than it does now, especially in the United States. In the US, it used to be that works were copyrighted for a maximum of 56 years. Today copyright in the US can last for over 100 years. In fact Congress keeps extending the time. In practice, they’re acting as if they never want ideas to go into the public domain.

This is great for the owners of ‘intellectual property’. But it’s hard to see how this “promotes the Progress of Science and useful Arts,” or how forever is a “limited time.” In a sense it’s a theft from the public. Anyone who publishes work has accepted the deal that the law offers, of a limited monopoly in return for making their idea known. Congress has been giving them more and more extensions on that monopoly, but doesn’t require them to do anything to earn it.

It probably doesn’t matter that much that Disney still owns Mickey Mouse, or that Lord of the Rings is still under copyright. But remember that these laws don’t just apply to the arts. Similar laws apply to science as well. So a life-saving invention could be going unused, because its owner wants too much money for it, or because it’s tied up in court while two companies fight about who owns it.

Conclusion

I’m far from an expert on either the law or the publishing industry. However I hope that I’ve given you, especially those of you who might be thinking about publishing some writing, a different take on the whole issue of whether authors should worry about their ideas being stolen. At least I hope I’ve shown you that there’s a different way of thinking about it, and that that way doesn’t require you to just give up on making money; in fact that it might be more profitable as well as better for society.

*****

James Hutchings lives in Melbourne, Australia. He fights crime as Poetic Justice, but his day job is acting. You might know him by his stage-name ‘Brad Pitt.’ He specializes in short fantasy fiction. His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, fiction365 and Enchanted Conversation among other markets. His ebook collection The New Death and others is now available from Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble. He blogs daily at Teleleli.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific is a compilation of all the writing links I shared the previous week.

The links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 16,000 free articles on writing-related topics. Sign up for our free newsletter for monthly writing tips and interviews with top contributors to the WKB or like us on Facebook.

You can also find me today at Kaye Barley’s Meanderings and Muses blog, talking about the pleasures of writing.

Enjoy your week!

Why Children’s Publishing Needs Freelance Editors Now: http://bit.ly/MH6QEU @pubperspectives

Libraries See Budgets Drop: ALA Report: http://bit.ly/MH6XQN @galleycat

Finding Names that Capture Your Characters: http://bit.ly/MH6Zbu @diymfa

Can Writing in Multiple Genres Hurt Your Sales Potential? http://bit.ly/MH70fn @goblinwriter

Why The Deepest Lessons Take Time To Absorb: http://bit.ly/LXinOt @jmcaddell

7 Reasons to Quit Balking & Start Blogging: http://bit.ly/LXiNo0 @SoberBoots

How To Publish Your Book On The Kindle And iPad: http://bit.ly/LXiObw @bubblecow

Myths About Traditional Publishing: http://bit.ly/LXiQjL

5 Stages of Editing Grief: http://bit.ly/LXiRnN @LyndaRYoung

Self Published Authors are Amateurs – Or Not: http://bit.ly/LXiV6Y @passivevoiceblg

Your ebook is reading *you*: http://on.wsj.com/LXjiOQ @wsj

Writing in between: Too much God for the general market, not enough for the Christian market: http://bit.ly/LXjjCr @novelrocket

What Do We “Owe” New Writers? http://bit.ly/LHyqSb @jamigold

My interview on @JeffRutherford ‘s podcast covering my publishing story & thoughts on
various social media for promo: http://bit.ly/Kk5n8V

Plotting twists in crime fiction: http://bit.ly/M0qQOi @LauraHoward78 @HartJohnson

Find the magic in your everyday world to set your story apart: http://bit.ly/M0xkwH @LubaLesychyn

Why aren’t more publishers embracing digital publishing innovations? http://bit.ly/MMzAgl @Porter_Anderson

The data-gathering power of digital formats–that writers/publishers can’t access: http://bit.ly/MMBpKk @Porter_Anderson @MikeShatzkin

Should authors insist contracts stipulate library availability for ebooks? http://bit.ly/LAnXWj @Porter_Anderson @rachellegardner @naypinya

Messing up your story’s denouement murders your characters: http://bit.ly/OfjiMr @p2p_editor

Richard Russo–still not putting his money where his mouth is: http://bit.ly/MYKxpX @Porter_Anderson @Canfield_AP @JDGsaid @jeffjohnroberts

Don’t query until your book is done: http://bit.ly/LHyuS5 @behlerpublish

Even editors need an editor: http://bit.ly/LHyx02 @p2p_editor

To MFA or Not To MFA: http://bit.ly/LHyBgq @4YALit @diymfa

Blog tour tips: http://bit.ly/LHyHVj @kalayna

A useful resource for describing settings, emotions, shapes, textures, and more: http://bit.ly/eIGRMO @AngelaAckerman

The snowflake method’s 10 step process for writing a novel: http://bit.ly/LHzA0b @bubblecow

Writing–when should you give it up? http://bit.ly/LHzEgb

How to blog a book of poetry: http://bit.ly/LHzGVl @NinaAmir

Adding a Sense of Place to Our Writing: http://bit.ly/LHzLs5

Creative Contagion: Setting Sparks, Catching Fire: http://bit.ly/LHzOnT @emilywenstrom

Blackmail App for Writers: http://bit.ly/LHzR2Y @JasonBoog

How to Maximize eBook Royalties and Minimize Hassles: http://bit.ly/LHzSnN @RayRhamey

Crafting Natural-Sounding Internal Thoughts: http://bit.ly/LHAgTh @Janice_Hardy

How to write a scary scene: http://bit.ly/LHAlpT @stdennard

The Power of a Deadline…The Importance of a Goal: http://bit.ly/LHAolF

Author Blogging 101: Keyword Basics: http://bit.ly/LHAsBI @JFBookman

Writing Great Characters: http://bit.ly/LHAtpj @mooderino

Parenthetical Punctuation: http://bit.ly/LHAx8v @writing_tips

Zen and the Art of GoodReads: http://bit.ly/NPf3nd @blurbisaverb

Publishing Options: Knowing the Best Choice: http://bit.ly/NPf7DD @behlerpublish

For literary inspiration follow @AdviceToWriters. Jon Winokur dispenses writerly wisdom of the ages.

20 quotations on writing: http://bit.ly/NPfdeo @rebeccaschinsky

Finding The Character Within: http://bit.ly/NPfii3 @KateMessner

Yeah, e-books are great — but libraries are in a tough spot: http://bit.ly/NPfy0L @laurahazardowen

5 Critical Things to Make a YA Story Stand Out: http://bit.ly/Mgv61Z @nelsaroberto

Who will care about what we’ve written? http://bit.ly/O3tzLD @dirtywhitecandy

How to create an animated ebook cover: http://bit.ly/O3tGXv @KSAugustin

Writing Highly Intelligent Characters and Points-of-View: http://bit.ly/O3ugEP

Tips for freshening up your character descriptions: http://bit.ly/O3uBas @MargieLawson

4 Keys to Writing Un-Put-Down-Able Middle Grade Adventure: http://bit.ly/O3uM5E @ChuckSambuchino

6 standard types of antagonists and their uses: http://bit.ly/O3v50c @RachelLarow

10 tips for self-editing: http://bit.ly/O3veAM @bubblecow

How Content Analysis Makes Your Book Engaging to the Reader: http://bit.ly/O3vno5

Too Much Interior Monologue? http://bit.ly/O3vsIb @Janice_Hardy

Twitter marketing for authors who don’t get it: http://bit.ly/O3vAYc @LauraPepWu

72 great quotations on writing: http://bit.ly/O3xoR9 @writersdigest

How to Create a Different Kind of Antagonist: http://bit.ly/O3y2hB

Are You Writing Your Novel Too Fast? http://bit.ly/O3y5d5 @KMWeiland

Inspiration and the “Yeah, but…”: http://bit.ly/LYKZXu @March_Mia

Resources & Thoughts On Character Naming: http://bit.ly/LYL6lQ @BryanThomasS

5 Reasons To Build Your Writer Platform: http://bit.ly/MKTZS2 @chucksambuchino

What Is The Best Genre To Write If You Want To Get Published? http://bit.ly/LYL8KF @bubblecow

16 Tips on How to Survive and Thrive as a Writer: http://bit.ly/LYL9yf @livewritethrive

How agents choose the best publisher for a project: http://bit.ly/LYLdxL @rachellegardner

Writing Scenes That Work: http://bit.ly/LYLhhh @storyfix

11 reasons writers get rejected–and why only 3 of them matter: http://bit.ly/LYLocp @annerallen @ruthharrisbooks

Are You Telegraphing Your Plot? http://bit.ly/LYLqRL @Janice_Hardy

10 Quick Tips to Get Your Manuscript Ready for Self-Publication: http://bit.ly/LYLuRu @JFBookman

Choosing Your Point of View: http://bit.ly/LP3ktT @Janice_Hardy @DonnaGalanti

Winning over an editor – using comparisons to prove your book’s raison d’être: http://bit.ly/LP3rFV @behlerpublish

How to Get Rid of Writer’s Block, Pixar Style: http://bit.ly/LP3tgP @joebunting

Writing–Fighting Distractions: http://bit.ly/LP3zoT @JillKemerer

One Reason Your Blog Posts Aren’t Getting Any Comments: http://bit.ly/LP3L7A @pushingsocial

Tips for writing like a pro: http://bit.ly/LP3MIv @ava_jae

4 Query Resources: http://bit.ly/LP3O36 @sierragodfrey

Proofreading Marks You’re Unlikely to See from Your Editor: http://bit.ly/LP3S2Y @fuelyourwriting

Using Dialogue Tags and Punctuation Properly: http://bit.ly/LP3TUp @CMKaufman

5 Common Writing Mistakes That Bloggers Make – and How to Fix Them: http://bit.ly/LP3Yrb

Facing the dreaded 2nd draft: http://bit.ly/LP4kyc

Making Heroes Heroic–Why Flaws are Important: http://bit.ly/LP5rh8 @KristenLambTX

How to be a bloody awful writer: http://bit.ly/LP6ei9 @jammer0501

The New World of Publishing: Book Pricing from Another Perspective: http://bit.ly/LP6xto @deanwesleysmith

Write from your specialty: http://bit.ly/LP6CNO @JulietteWade

For Those Who Fear Failing As a Writer: http://bit.ly/LP6Rsc @krissybrady

3 Things to Look for in a Critique Community: http://bit.ly/LP6Vbl @diymfa

Unusual Inspiration: Character Arcs Made Easy: http://bit.ly/LP71Q8 @FaeRowen

Unusual Inspiration: Character Arcs Made Easy: http://bit.ly/LP71Q8 @FaeRowen

20 Easy Ways Readers Can Help Promote a Book: http://bit.ly/LPagHq @jodyhedlund

The 13 Trickiest Grammar Hang-Ups: http://bit.ly/LPasXg @GrammarGirl

Should You Send Your Book To An Agent Before It’s Finished? http://bit.ly/LYbMBC @bubblecow

Author Visits by Skype: http://bit.ly/LYbQ4x

1 trad. published author’s self-pubbed adventure (with Create Space): http://bit.ly/LYbVFg @junglereds @rosemaryharris1

The Best #BadWritingTips: http://bit.ly/LYbWZO @rebeccaschinsky

Twitter abuse: Gain followers the right way: http://bit.ly/LYc77o @rebeccaberto

3 productivity tricks: http://bit.ly/LYc8bI

5 Things Mad Men Can Teach You About Publishing: http://bit.ly/LYcfE5

Use S.C.A.M.P.E.R. to improve your writing: http://bit.ly/LYce2P

Crafting Multi-Layered Characters: http://bit.ly/LYchMc @4YALit

Grammar: Neither, nor, or: http://bit.ly/LYcyyM @howtowriteshop

Using beats in a scene: http://bit.ly/LYcChQ

3 Tips for Writing Heavy Emotional Scenes: http://bit.ly/LYcCP5 @JamiGold

How to Tackle Critique Notes: http://bit.ly/LYcIWH @CarleenBrice

Writing 2 books at once: http://bit.ly/LYcI9h @PBRWriter

5 Elements of Storytelling: http://bit.ly/LYd283 @joebunting

Critique vs. Discussion: What Kind of Feedback Do You Need? http://bit.ly/LYd5Rf @DIYMFA

If You Only Learn From Writers, You’re Doing It Wrong: http://bit.ly/LYd3ZH @fuelyourwriting

Free Writing & Self-Publishing Tools: http://bit.ly/QTT5TC @duolit

That–frequently a needless filler word: http://bit.ly/QTToxz @KMWeiland

Tips for making a book trailer: http://bit.ly/QTTF3A @beth_barany

Differing approaches to worldbuilding: http://bit.ly/QTUcTb @litreactor @rajanyk

Parallels in Music & Writing: http://bit.ly/QTUxFA @christi_craig

Writing endings with readers in mind: http://bit.ly/MNsRSs

Using the past to inspire fiction–historical instances of cannibalism: http://bit.ly/MNt7kg @genelempp

7 Ways to Intensify Crisis Scenes: http://bit.ly/MNtbAJ

Functions Determine Plot: http://bit.ly/MNtsUk @fictionnotes

How long until you follow up on a query? http://bit.ly/MNtz1X @nicolamorgan

Can You Plagiarize Yourself? Conversations about Copyright: http://bit.ly/MNtBXV @fictionnotes

Methods of engaging your readers online: http://bit.ly/MNtJGJ @duolit

The Art and Power Of Interviews: http://bit.ly/MNtPye @BarbaraOneal

How to Write Productively: http://bit.ly/MNtSKo @FriesenPress

How to Spot Mary Sue in Your Writing: http://bit.ly/QUwrdy @ava_jae

Choosing the Road Less Taken (With Your Characters): http://bit.ly/QUwFl0 @Kris10Callihan @janice_hardy

Twitter Cheat Sheet for Writers: http://bit.ly/QUwNRs @jasonboog @galleycat

The end of ebook development: http://bit.ly/QUwYwd @passivevoiceblg

Creating emotional resonance in your final scenes: http://bit.ly/QUx7Qr

Are you undervaluing your book? http://bit.ly/QUxkD8 @behlerpublish

Men Still Dominate Bylines And Book Titles: http://bit.ly/QUxOsL @litreactor @dave_reuss

How To Write A Successful Book Proposal: http://bit.ly/QUxY3B @bubblecow

Narcissism in crime fiction: http://bit.ly/NfhHDR @clarissadraper

Top 10 fairy fictions: http://bit.ly/NfkEEl @guardianbooks

DRM encourages a community of pirates: http://t.co/UcuJnBOr @Porter_Anderson @jwikert @fakebaldur @timoreilly